Graphic Novels and Comics in Social Studies Instruction

Megan Grayburn

Visual and Media Literacy for Teaching and Learning

Fall 2015

Fostering preservice teachers' sense of historical agency through the use of nonfiction
graphic novels. Written by J. Spencer Clark and Steven P. Camicia
This study focused on pre-service teachers and teaching them of the importance of
historical agency in social studies instruction. Clark and Camicia cite Barton in describing
historical agency as the stock-in-trade of history identifying main characters, describing their
actions, and trying to explain why events played out as they did (pg. 1). Essentially, with
historical agency, the interactions of historical figures are studied to determine how each person
contributed to the pathway of history. Clark and Camicia acknowledge the fact that graphic
novels present these interactions in a frame-by-frame format, displaying the beginning, middle,
and end of the historical events. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the importance of
teaching historical agency, and introducing this in the context of graphic novels and comics.
In reviewing the related literature, Clark and Camicia used three conceptual lenses of
historical agency as found in their reading. First, they viewed historical agency as a tool for
readers to think about historical accounts in texts (pg. 3). With this in mind, Clark and Camicia
discuss the idea that it is not enough to read about historical events, but readers must consider the
circumstances of events to truly understand what has happened. While textbooks and trade
books often portray one perspective over another, graphic novels allow for narratives that view
multiple perspectives at the same time, within the same frame, or nearby frames.
The second lens of focus, is the student understanding of historical agency and how
subjects are formed by society and its institutions (pg. 4). Discussing ethics, Clark and
Camicia discuss how the time period of events is often the cause of the events itself. Society

teaches what is right and wrong, valuable and invaluable, and students must have an
understanding of this when reading about historical events.
The final lens explores discourse analysis of text and images (pg. 4). This concept is
especially important within graphic novels and comics as the content must match the images.
Utilizing this lens with teaching history has the potential to greatly improve student
understanding of the content being presented.
The research presented in this article was done in the form of a case study in a social
studies methods course at Maple Grove University. Using a class activity, the pre-service
teachers read an historic graphic novel of their choice and was asked to add 3-5 frames, renarrate 3-5 frames, and reflect upon their edits and justify them within the context of strong
historical agency. All sources of data were qualitative, viewing the work they completed with
the graphic novels. In addition to the work they completed with the graphic novels, students
made position statements on their view of social studies instruction, and conducted interviews
were conducted on each pre-service teacher, where they discussed the work they did with the
graphic novel and why they made the decisions they made.
As this assignment in class was formed within the context of historical agency, the
additions students made to their work revolved around this idea. Therefore, many students made
their revisions based on the ethics and critical viewpoints. Some students focused on moral
viewpoints, others on the idea that the viewpoint of their graphic novel did not address the entire
story. The researchers were successful in encouraging students to view the instructional
materials critically.

In my opinion, the purpose of the study was not made clear. A research question was not
asked, which would provide direction for the research study. While generic findings were stated,
a clear outcome was not found. Additionally, the study being done for a class assignment about
historical agency does not necessarily prove graphic novels are a better way to teach this. The
pre-service teachers made additions and edits within the context of historical agency, but these
additions and edits could have also been made with standard historical readings. The researchers
emphasizing the use of graphic novels for this, does not necessarily ring true in my opinion. On
the other hand, the researchers did a very good job showing the pre-service teachers that they
should not take instructional materials as is, and should be critical readers in using them for
instruction. While they were forced to make changes to their graphic novel, they were all able to
do so within a true historical context.
Within this article, I learned how easy it can be to encourage historical agency in social
studies instruction. I do not know that my 5th grade students would be capable of this, but I can
see this being useful in middle school or high school instruction.

Clark, J. s., & Camicia, S. P. (2014). Fostering preservice teachers' sense of historical agency
through the use of nonfiction graphic novels. Journal Of Social Studies Research, 38(1),
1-13.

Using Historical Graphic Novels in High School History Classes: Potential for
Contextualization, Sourcing, and Corroborating by William Boerman-Cornell
Thisstudyfocusedontheuseofgraphicnovelsinhighschoolhistorycoursestosupport
thegoalsofhistoryinstruction.BoermanCornelldiscussesthemodernhistorytextbookas
multimodal,combiningwordsandpictures(pg.209).However,thebrokenlayoutbetweenthe
wordsandpicturesoftenmakesitdifficulttoconnectthetwo.Wordsandpicturesarerelated,
butdonotworkseamlesslywitheachother.Graphicnovelsontheotherhand,havewordsand
picturesthatworkwitheachothertomakethecontentunderstandable.Thearticlereviewed
seekstousehistoricalgraphicnovelstobetterteachhistoryinhighschoolclassrooms.
Graphicnovelscanbedefinedasbooklengthworksoffictionornonfictionthatusethe
conventionsofacomicbooktotellastoryorconveyinformation(pg.210).Theformatofa
graphicnovelallowsfortheflowoftheworktonotbeinterruptedbyimagesinserted,asthe
wordsandimagesworktogether.Primarysourcescanbeembeddedintothebooks,inaway
thatthereaderisnotabletoskipoverit,asisoftenthecasewithparagraphformattedbooks.
Goingbackthousandsofyears,untiltheprintingpress,storieswerewritteninasequential
formatusingcavewallsandtapestries.Theuseofgraphicnovelstakesusbacktothisformat,
allowingreaderstointerpretfacialexpressions,proximity,settings,andmuchmore,tobetter
understandthehistoricalcontext,alongwiththehistoricalcontent.Whilegraphicnovelsshould
notbeusedastheONLYresourceforsocialstudiesinstruction,itcanencouragebetter
understandingofthecontentbeingtaught.
Thisstudylooksatmanydifferentgraphicnovelstodeterminewhatthesegraphicnovels
canoffertohighschoolstudentsintheirinstruction.Selectinggraphicnovelsrangingin

publicationfrom19862010,BoermanCornellusedawidevarietyofmaterials.Beginningwith
twentygraphicnovels,helimitedtheresearchtotaltofivehistoricalgraphicnovels.Within
thesefivegraphicnovels,contextualization(geographic,temporal,social,andpolitical),
sourcing,andcorroborationwerereviewedtodeterminethesuccessofthegraphicnovelsin
teachingthecontent.
Followingtheresearch,BoermanCornellconcludedthathistoricalgraphicnovels
provideaddedopportunitiesforhighschoolstudentstocomprehendthehistoricalcontent,
contextualization,sourcing,andcorroborationwerenotutilizedequallywithinthegraphicnovel,
andthedegreetowhicheachareaisusedinthegraphicnovelvariesfrombooktobook.Most
graphicnovelsreviewedprovidedampleopportunityforcontextualization,inallsubcategories.
BoermanCornelldiscusseshowgraphicnovelshavethePOTENTIALtoincludeprimary
sourcestographicnovels,theonesreviewedfailedtotakeadvantageofthis.Historiansview
booksbasedontheinclusionoftheseprimarysources,andinthegraphicnovelsreviewed,they
failedtoincludethem.Corroboration,orcheckingdetailsofaccountsagainsteachother(pg.
220),hasGREATpotentialingraphicnovels,asthewritercanshowtwogroupsofpeople
simultaneouslyinthestory,seeingwhateachgroupisdoingatthattime.Thisconceptwasused
intwoofthefivegraphicnovels,showinganinconsistencywithinthegenre.Intheend,
BoermanCornelldeterminedmore research is necessary to determine how practical and
beneficial these affordances are when used in the high school history classroom (pg. 221).
Teachers should not abandon either the standard textbook or the graphic novels, but can use them
together to encourage content understanding AND student engagement.

In my opinion, this study was very thorough of the needs of social studies students in
history instruction. By analyzing many graphic novels, Boerman-Cornell uses discernment with
the concept for teaching high school students. I agree with his statement that more research must
be done before graphic novels are solely used in instruction. Currently, it seems the historical
graphic novels are aimed at student engagement, rather than sole source of instruction. As is,
history teachers can use graphic novels to enhance and enrich instruction after the use of
standard social studies instructional materials.
This article researched my current view of social studies instruction. It appears that in
education, teachers are encouraged to stray from the textbook for other forms of engagement for
students. This study, however, reminded me that the purpose of the textbook is to teach students
the content of the social studies events. If we have this resource, why should we ignore it?
Additional resources are important, but before we can enhance and enrich instruction, the
students have to first have the basic knowledge to scaffold onto.

Boennan-Cornell, W. (2015). Using Historical Graphic Novels in High School History Classes:
Potential for Contextualization, Sourcing, and Corroborating. History Teacher, 48(2),
209-224.

Graphic Novels: What Elementary Teachers Think About Their Instructional Value by
Diane Lapp, Thomas Devere Wolsey, Douglas Fisher, and Nancy Frey
This article does not directly address the use of graphic novels for social studies
instruction, however, elementary teachers often teach all subjects, therefore the viewpoints of
teachers in this study can be applied to social studies instruction as well. Additionally, this
article is of interest to me as an elementary school teacher myself.
The increase in use of visual literacy in the classroom brings the concept of graphic
novels as a form of instruction. When text and images go together, Lapp et al mention, asortof
transactionmaybesaidtooccurbetweentheimage,thewords,andthereader(pg.23).That
beingsaid,instructionwiththeuseoftextandimagesintheoryshouldimprovecomprehension
ofthecontentbystudents.Anadditionalreasontoincludegraphicnovelsininstructionisthe
pushforstudentstoreadfromavarietyofgenresinbooks.Whilesometeachersbelievethis
genreofcomicsandgraphicnovelsbelongoutsideoftheclassroom,otherteachersbelieve
graphicnovelshavethepotentialtoscaffoldstrugglingstudentsintofluentreaders(pg.24).
Withregardtolibraries,theresearchersdiscusstypicallythegraphicnovelcollectionconsists
oflessthanS%oftheentirecollection;however,graphicnovelsaccountforapproximately40%
ofcirculation(pg.24),meaningthereishighinterestingraphicnovelsforreadingpleasure.It
isforthisreasontheresearcherschosetoevaluateteacherstanceongraphicnovels.

The study completed in this article used a group of 60 teachers attending a summer
institute as candidates for a graduate degree in education. For the sake of understanding, the
researchers referred to the materials as comics, however, graphic novels were the resources
used in the study. Using a Likert scale survey designed for this study, the teachers indicated their
position on the use of graphic novels in their classroom. This is the only measurement tool used
in the study.
Overall, the study outlined the responses from the survey, discussing use, availability, and
purpose of graphic novels in instruction. From these responses, the researchers found graphic
novels to be hotamongtheirreadersand,asthesedatashowed,alsoamongmanyteachers,
theiruseintheclassroomisnotashot(pg.27).Theteacherssurveyeddonotappear
opposedtotheiruseintheclassroom,howevertheydonotappeartobelieveextensiveuseis
beneficialtostudents.Oftheteacherswhousegraphicnovels,mostonlyusethemoncea
month,orevenonceayear.Thebeliefofteacherssurveyedisthattheycanbeusedtoenhance
instruction,butarenotappropriateforeverydayinstruction.
Idonotfeelthatthisstudywasnecessarilygroundbreakingwiththeresultspresented.
Whilemanyteachershavegoodintentionstoprovideinnovativeinstructionforstudents,oftenas
theyearprogresses,itiseasiertosticktothematerialsprovidedbytheschooldistrictfor
instruction.ThereforeIamnotsurprisedbythelimitednumberofteachersusinggraphicnovels
intheirclassrooms.Iagreewiththeseteachersthattheuseofgraphicnovelscanbegreatfor
enhancinginstruction,butshouldnotbeusedasthesoleformofinstruction.Visualliteracyis
animportantcomponentofinstruction,howeverstudentsstillmustreadcontentinparagraph
format,particularlytheoldertheyget.

Iwasdisappointedinthediscussionfromthisstudy,asIhonestlydidnotgathermuch
knowledgefromtheresearchconducted.ThereviewofliteratureaddedtomyknowledgeIhave
gainedfromthiscourseaboutvisualliteracyandhowgraphicnovelsenhancethisaspectof
instruction,howevertheresearchresultswerelight.
LAPP, D., WOLSEY, T. D., FISHER, D., & FREY, N. (2012). Graphic Novels: What Elementary
Teachers Think About Their Instructional Value. Journal Of Education, 192(1), 23-35.

Assignment Reflection:
My overall takeaway from this assignment is that more research needs to be completed
with social studies and the use of comics and graphic novels. Most of the research I was able to
find that has been conducted discusses teacher views of graphic novels in the classroom, versus
statistics from their use in history and social studies classrooms. Perhaps the lack of research is
why there is not much use in the classroom most educational practices must be supported by
data. I was hoping to find an article demonstrating overwhelming support for or against the use,
but no such article was discovered in my search. This somewhat encourages me to conduct a
research study myself on the success of their use in the classroom. If they have potential to
improve social studies instruction, it is important for teachers to know about it! I know my
findings would not be the end all, be all of education, however it could point teachers in the
right direction for their use in the classroom.